


Enemy of my Enemy

by Ptolomeia



Series: Janus and the Technicolour Keyring [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bad First Aid, Blood, Gen, Janus continues to be a self sacrificing idiot and needs to be talked out of it. Again, Post Humility's A Sin, complicated relationships are complicated, compound fracture, do not try this at home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:40:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28432569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ptolomeia/pseuds/Ptolomeia
Summary: Thomas finally finished a 4 week run of a play and Virgil is more than ready to kick back and watch cryptid movies late into the night (well, later into the night) to relax.Unfortunately for him, there's a knock at the door. Dammit, what does Janus want this time?
Series: Janus and the Technicolour Keyring [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064096
Comments: 5
Kudos: 22
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective





	Enemy of my Enemy

Virgil let out a long deep breath and opened his laptop. The four week run of the musical and _everyone_ could relax. Logan had gone to bed as soon as the curtain call was finished, trusting Virgil to make sure Thomas didn’t do anything unwise at the cast party, Patton an hour or two in, and Remus and Roman had partied their victory (Thomas had needed both of them for this role, after all), all the way until Thomas passed out. Even Janus had had the decency to stay in his room and not bring everyone down.

Now, Thomas was asleep, Roman and Remus were off in the imagination crafting good dreams for him, and the whole Mindscape was nice and quiet. After all that stress, Virgil was more than ready to unwind to some cryptid videos on YouTube. Finally, some peace and qui—

There was a knock on his door.

Why couldn’t he just be left to relax in peace? Who was even _up_ at this hour anyway?

Sighing, he got out of bed and went to see who was at the door.

When he saw Janus standing there, he nearly closed it in his face. He didn’t want anything more to do with Janus than he absolutely had to, but Thomas had been doing the whole therapy thing and they were supposed to be trying to be nicer to each other, so…

“What do you want?” Virgil demanded.

“A helping hand and a few minutes of your time, nothing more.” Janus replied.

“Don’t you have, like, 6 hands? Handle it yourself.” Okay, maybe he wasn’t doing super well on the whole ‘being nicer’ thing, but dammit, they’d all had a long month.

“Oh yes, of course, I hadn’t thought about trying to fix this myself and there _definitely_ isn’t a reason I’m coming to _you_.” Janus replied, giving Virgil a look.

“Alright, fine. What can I do for you, Janus?” Virgil was surprised the amount of fake cordiality in that question didn’t just summon Patton to find out what was up. He almost wished it would: Patton would much rather help Janus. Actually, why _had_ Janus come to him instead of Patton? Or Logan? Or _Roman_ who had fought so hard to get him accepted in the first place?

“Follow me. I’ve set everything up in the bathroom downstairs. You hate my room and I don’t think you’ll want to do this in yours.” Janus said, turning and walking down the hall. Virgil glared at his retreating back and almost, _almost,_ walked right back into his room and back to his videos, but _dammit_ now he was curious. Stupid Janus and his knowing how to push all of their buttons.

Grumbling (quietly, so as to not risk waking the others) he followed Janus down the stairs to the communal bathroom on the main floor.

Turning the corner into the bathroom, Virgil froze.

He was Anxiety, a way to keep Thomas safe from threats, right? So naturally the first thing he noticed was the blood. Smears of it were everywhere. On the floor, the towels, the counter, the first aid kit, safety scissors and bandages placed on the counter, _everywhere._

And now that they were out of the dark hallway upstairs…

Janus’s shirt and cloak clung wetly to him in a way it absolutely shouldn’t.

Virgil looked up at Janus, and finally noticed how _tight_ the other Side’s eyes were, behind the usual mask of indifference.

“You’ll have to cut the shirt off,” Janus said, eyes flicking to the safety scissors. “Last time I tried to just take it off, I blacked out.”

“Janus…” Virgil said, staring in horror. “What _happened?_ ” Had Remus gotten to him? When would Remus have had _time_ to get to him?

“I’d… forgotten how much broken ribs hurt. I moved in a way I shouldn’t have and collapsed and the angle… Well, I’m sure I’ll heal just find when you push it back in. I’d do it myself, but, as I said, when I tried I just blacked out again.

“Your _ribs?_ ” Virgil asked. “But you told Thomas that they wouldn’t break! That this show wasn’t too much!”

“Yes. I lied,” Janus said, raising an eyebrow at Virgil.

“Why!?” Dammit, they were _all_ supposed to be being more honest about this stuff. Thomas was going to be _so angry_ when he found out. They’d realized that there would be mistakes from time to time as they learned to work together, but that Janus had known and _hidden_ this from Thomas? No way was that going to fly.

“Because this show was an incredible opportunity for Thomas and I thought I could recover just fine during the relaxed week Logan scheduled for us afterwards to all recharge. If I hadn’t fallen, it would have worked perfectly.”

Virgil hissed at Janus. He couldn’t just— _do_ stuff like that without telling the rest of them!

Janus raised an eyebrow.

“Now, are you going to help me, or just stand there and sputter.”

“Oh, you best believe I can do both!” Virgil growled, before forcing himself to go through the 4-7-8 breathing exercise a few times. Good for calming you down from more than just anxiety. “Alright, sit on the counter, and let’s see what I can do.”

Janus grimaced, but managed to shimmy up onto the counter. His face was pale and he’d started sweating.

Stupid frigging snake.

Virgil picked up the scissors, sticky from Janus’s blood, and started cutting the other Side’s clothes away.

“A facecloth with warm water will help unstick the shirt,” Janus said, and Virgil was left wondering how and why Janus knew that. Still, he got a cloth and did as he was told. It was slow and steady work, the only sound their breathing punctuated by Janus’s occasionally hiss as Virgil accidentally put too much pressure on broken ribs.

Finally, though, Virgil managed to uncover the wound. He stared in horror and started to feel nauseous. There was definitely a difference between fake blood and seeing two of someone’s _ribs_ sticking out of their chest, oozing blood and moving slightly in time with Janus’s breathing.

“We need to get Logan,” Virgil said, tearing his eyes away from the wound and looking up at Janus. Janus’s eyes went wide.

“ _No!_ ” He hissed.

“Janus, don’t be an idiot! Logan will know what to do and if he doesn’t then he’ll at least know how to find out! I have no idea how to treat a frigging compound fracture! All I know is bones go on the inside!”

“Great, then grab the bone, and shove it back in!” Janus snapped. “We’re figments of someone’s imagination, Virgil. It might hurt like hell, but it’s not like it can get infected. Now, grab, shove, slap a bandage over it and we can both go back to our rooms and pretend this never happened.”

“Pretend that this never happened? Janus, there’s blood all over this room!”

“I’ll clean it up before I go upstairs then. Now will you please just get to work?”

Virgil felt his panic rising and put his hands over his mouth, closed his eyes and forced himself to breath slowly through the obstruction. He needed to slow down and think. He was missing something here, something important, and he needed to figure out what. Preferably before Janus passed out. He thought back over the conversation, and then looked up at Janus and lowered his hands.

“Why me?” Virgil finally asked. “And why me alone? Logan would be better at dealing with this calmly, Remus probably has experience, Patton would be terrified, yeah, but at least he’s comforting and Roman fought us tooth and nail to get you to be a part of the group. So, why me?”

“Virgil, is this _really_ —”

“If you want me to help me with your ribs, you’re going to tell me.”

“Or what, you’ll leave me here bleeding?”

“Or I’ll go get _everyone_ right now.” Or maybe just sink out to tell Thomas ‘ribs’ before Janus could stop him. That would be enough to get Thomas figuring out the rest.

“Fine,” Janus snarled. “Logan and Patton would insist on telling Thomas. Would _you_ trust Remus with this kind of injury when he hated you? And as for Roman? I am _not_ stealing this victory from him. He worked incredibly hard for this and does not need to be worrying about me right now. Happy?”

Virgil raised his eyebrows at the idea that Roman _shouldn’t_ be worried about the snake with bones sticking out, bleeding in their bathroom, but, “I’m never happy,” Virgil replied.

Janus snorted and winced, eyes closing.

“Please don’t make me laugh. The pain really isn’t worth it.”

“Okay, so, that explains why no one else, but why me?” Seriously, why did Janus think that Virgil _wasn’t_ going to tell Thomas all about this first thing tomorrow? Janus couldn’t just go around hiding things from the rest of them. Especially not when it ended with a blood covered bathroom!

“Because you _also_ hate me, but not enough to let your hatred of me overcome your fear of this effecting Thomas. You know I wouldn’t let this effect Thomas, whereas Logan and Patton would want to tell Thomas for _my_ sake. You won’t care how often my ribs shatter, as long as it isn’t hurting anyone else.” Janus’s expression firmed. “Now. Rib. Push. Bandage. _Go._ ”

“Is that really what you think I think of you?”

Janus’s snake eye opened, giving Virgil a look. “You regularly hiss at me, and I’m not sure we’ve ever been in the same room without you glaring at me, this room included. You’ve ranted in detail about how you felt about my locking you away and manipulating you, even if it was to make you join the Light Sides. It’s my job to hide unpleasant truths from Thomas, not myself.”

Virgil stared at the small, sad smile on Janus’s face as his eye shut again and something deep inside Virgil twisted.

“I don’t hate you,” Virgil said. If anything, Janus’s smile turned sadder.

“Don’t bother, Virge. I can tell when you’re lyi—” Janus’s eyes snapped open and his nostrils flared.

“Great, then you know I’m—”

“Not…” Janus looked utter blindsided. While it was nice to finally shock the Side, it was kinda concerning that this was what did it. Janus shook his head and turned to Virgil. “But, if you don’t hate me then why?”

“I didn’t say I liked you,” Virgil said. “I don’t.” Janus’s nostril’s flared as he breathed in the scent of that truth too. “What you did to me? The locking away, the manipulating? That wasn’t okay. None of it was. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for the way you treated me, and honestly I’m not even sure I should—but hate you?” Virgil shook his head. “No. Not anymore. I don’t like you, but I _do_ know you’re one of us. Roman was right to fight for you, even after everything you did. So, no, I don’t hate you and also, no, I’m not letting you keep that you got hurt from Thomas—Not because I want to mess up your plans, but because I won’t stand by while you do this to yourself. None of us want you to.” Another intake of breath and Virgil quickly amended before Janus freak out. “Okay, maybe Remus does, and I can’t speak for the Sides still locked away, but Roman, Patton, Logan and even me? None of us are going to stand by and watch you self destruct. Not anymore. I don’t like you Janus, but I do care, so get used to it.”

Well, that was embarrassing and awkward but at least it was _over_. Now to deal with the rest of it.

“So, I’m going to help you get your rib back into place and then take you to your room where Logan can look you over and I’ll come down and clean all the blood before Roman sees. Got it. Now brace yourself, cause this is probably going to hu— Uh, Janus?”

“Yes?”

“What happened to your ribs?”

“What do you mean what happened to my ribs? We’ve been over what happened to my—”

“Just shut up and look will you?” Virgil said, gesturing to Janus’s chest. Janus looked down at his chest and frowned. ‘What?’ he more mouthed than said as he brought his hand up to gingerly touch unblemished scales. There was no sign that there had ever been ribs poking out of his chest. There wasn’t even bruising.

“But, how—” Janus’s head snapped up and he looked at Virgil desperation clear on his face. “Virgil, you have to believe me,” he was pulling at his gloves, fumbling to get them off to take them off. “You _have_ to believe me. I don’t know what happened. This wasn’t some trick or manipulation or—”

“Calm down,” Virgil said, taking a step forward and grabbing Janus’s shaking hands. “Breathe with me, okay?” He breathed 4-7-8 until Janus’s trembling had subsided. “I hadn’t even considered that this could have been a trick before you freaked out—and I don’t now, stop panicking, that my job.”

“But… I don’t even know what this was. The only other time this happened I was _unconscious._ They’ve normally just… healed on their own, eventually.”

“Yeah, well,” Virgil looked into eyes half human and half snake, eyes that had haunted his nightmares and smiled at him across the breakfast table. Eyes of, if not a friend, then not an enemy either. “Well, maybe you’re finally realizing you don’t have to do this alone anymore. Come on, snakey, let’s get you to bed. We’ll deal with the rest later.”

And with that, Virgil helped Janus down off the counter onto shaky legs and all the way back to his room before going back downstairs to clean up the blood. Yeah, they did all need to talk about it, and he took a couple pictures on his phone for proof, but no one needed to find out that way. They’d all talk tomorrow, Thomas included. Maybe they’d even bring it up in that week’s therapy session. Either way, they’d make it clear to Janus that he couldn’t keep doing this to himself.

Virgil snorted as he got out some cleaning supplies.

The enemy of my enemy indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't think I need to say this, but you are *not* a figment of someone's imagination and the correct response to a compound fracture is *not* "shove it back in". If you experience a compound fracture *go see an actual doctor*. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed, love to know what you think!


End file.
